12

Thursday, July 9, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

Harbaugh optimistic 
about fall sports season

When 
Jim 
Harbaugh 
sat 

down in front of his computer 
Wednesday afternoon for his first 
press conference of 2020, he knew 
the looming question would be 
one he’s never faced during his 
16-year head coaching career.

Normally around this time, he 

would be joining the Big Ten’s 13 
other head coaches in Chicago to 
talk about quarterback battles, 
how the freshmen look and who’s 
in the best shape of their lives. 
This year, of course, isn’t normal. 
There are no Big Ten media 
days and come early September, 
there may not even be a season 
— an ever-growing possibility as 
COVID-19 cases escalate across 
the country.

But with that scheduled start of 

the season just over eight weeks 
away and 50,304 new coronavirus 
cases confirmed in the US on 
Tuesday, Harbaugh re-affirmed 
his hope for the season to unfold 
as planned.

“If students are on campus, 

then my personal belief as a 
parent of a daughter who would 
also be on campus is that this is 
a safe place,” Harbaugh said. “As 
safe as possible, would be within 
the University, in our athletic 
buildings and complexes. The 
safety precautions that have been 
put into place, I would feel good 
with the medical oversight of 
the students, student athletes. I 
would want the responsibility.”

Harbaugh acknowledged the 

importance of that caveat — if 
students are on campus — saying 
“it’s a different conversation if 
there’s no students on campus.” 
This week, it’s an especially 
relevant caveat with Rutgers 
becoming the first Big Ten school 
to announce its classes will be 
almost entirely online in the fall. 
And with new cases on the rise 
in every Big Ten state, the Scarlet 
Knights could just be the first 
domino to fall.

For now, though, Michigan 

and most teams on its planned 
12-game schedule are holding 
firm on plans to hold at least some 
classes in person. And if that’s the 
case, Harbaugh wants football to 
follow, issuing the controversial 

and now viral statement that 
“COVID is part of our society. 
Wasn’t caused by football or 
caused by sports. And there’s no 
expert view right now that I’m 
aware of that sports is going to 
make that worse. It’s part of our 
society, we’re going to have to deal 
with it.”

Of course, the virus wasn’t 

caused by football — a truth 
that doesn’t negate the dangers 
of hundreds of college athletes 
congregating each day and then 
returning to their communities, 
unlike professional athletes in 
leagues that plan to resume their 
seasons in isolated bubbles.

Harbaugh, though, isn’t an 

epidemiologist. His focus isn’t on 
viral diseases, it’s on his team and 
his players. 

“I share the same opinion as our 

players,” Harbaugh said. “They 
want to play. As I said, they’ve 
been training their whole lives 
for this and these opportunities. 
Put the question to them, which I 
have, they would rather play than 
not play.”

That single-minded focus is 

why Harbaugh remained mum on 
the possibility of a spring season. 
It’s why, when asked about the 
likelihood of playing Washington 
in Seattle on Sept. 5, he said, “Not 
gonna offer my personal opinion. 
Athletic 
directors, 
presidents, 

school presidents and the medical 
experts can decide what’s best 
there.” 
A 
notably 
different 

approach than what he took when 
asked of the virus as a whole.

But what he is doing is making 

sure his players are doing what 
they can: wearing masks and 
following 
social 
distancing 

protocols put in place by health 
officials and athletic department 
specialists. “They’ve been really 
great about following those,” 
Harbaugh said. “I think they 
really understand there’s great 
value 
to 
keeping 
their 
own 

personal health but that of their 
teammates.”

The point of all that? To get to 

Harbaugh’s ultimate goal: have a 
season.

“The scenario that they’re 

playing is the one that you’re 
hoping and praying for,” Harbaugh 
said. “These youngsters have put 
in a lot of training, really their 
whole lives, for these moments.”

ETHAN SEARS/Daily

Coach Jim Harbaugh sparked fierce reactions with his comments on COVID-19.

THEO MACKIE

Managing Sports Editor

FOOTBALL

Jim 

Harbaugh 
went 
viral 

on 
Twitter 

Wednesday. 

“Michigan 

head 
coach 

Jim Harbaugh 
doesn’t think 
playing sports 
will 
make 

the 
COVID-

19 outbreak worse,” screamed the 
Twitter moment.

“COVID is part of our society,” 

he said in a Zoom call with media 
earlier in the day. “Wasn’t caused 
by football or caused by sports. And 
there’s no expert view right now 
that I’m aware of that sports is going 
to make that worse. It’s part of our 
society, we’re going to have to deal 
with it.”

The uproar was predictable.
Except, well, that wasn’t really 

what he said. At least, it wasn’t all of 
what he said. Or even close to all of 
what he said. Here’s all of what he 
said:

“Yeah, my thoughts would be, it’s 

a different conversation if there’s no 
students on campus. If students are 
on campus, then my personal belief 
as a parent of a daughter who would 
also be on campus that this is a safe 
place. As safe as possible, would 
be within the University, in our 
athletic buildings and complexes. 
That safety precautions that have 
been put into place.

“I would feel good with the 

medical oversight of the students, 
student athletes. I would want 
the responsibility. I would want 
the responsibility of keeping our 
players safe and also educating 

them. I would not want to come off 
of that guard tower of educating 
and keeping our players safe.

“Now, if it comes to a point in 

time where you say that we can’t 
play, it’s obvious, it’s clear, then 
everybody would be reasonable and 
know that was the right thing to do. 
COVID is part of our society. Wasn’t 
caused by football or caused by 
sports. And there’s no expert view 
right now that I’m aware of that 
sports is going to make that worse. 
It’s part of our society, we’re going 
to have to deal with it.

“These kids are going to have to do 

the same thing. They’ve got to go to 
school. They’ve trained their whole 
lives for the opportunity to play 
their sport. That is my view with the 
knowledge that we have and time to 
learn more about it. It would be my 
responsibility, our responsibility 
and the players’ responsibility also, 
to keep themselves safe and get the 
schooling and training that they 
need.”

That doesn’t sound like a football 

coach putting himself ahead of 
unpaid kids so he can make money 
amid a pandemic. 

It sounds like someone who’s 

spent the last four months talking 
every day to people about whether 
or not a football season will happen 
and if so, how it can happen. It 
sounds like the parent of an athlete 
(as well as another student) at the 
University — cautious, but willing 
to go along with the plan in place. 
It sounds like that because that’s 
exactly what it is.

I’m tired of this song and dance 

we do every time Harbaugh gives 
his actual opinion on something. 
Frankly, it makes me understand 
why he often goes out of his way 
to not say anything interesting. It’s 
exhausting.

That’s not to say he should get 

a free pass to say whatever he 
wants. If you want to rip Harbaugh 
for suggesting football might be 
possible, that’s fine. Football might 
well not be possible. I don’t know 
and neither does he. But criticize in 
context.

He noted the importance of 

students being on campus, which 
University President Mark Schissel 
and 
Athletic 
Director 
Warde 

Manuel have said is a must if football 
is to happen. Harbaugh noted the 
safety precautions in place, both 
in athletic buildings and the rest 
of the University, and it’s clear that 
if Michigan’s reopening plan fails, 
it will almost certainly be due to 
behavior that happens outside the 
purview of those guidelines. 

He’s probably wrong in saying 

no expert thinks sports will make 
it worse …. but an epidemiologist 
told The Athletic the risk is hard 
to quantify if students are already 
on campus, and might be mitigated 
by extra testing. So at minimum, 
there’s certainly no consensus 
over whether sports would make it 
worse.

“Jim Harbaugh doesn’t think 

playing sports will make the 
COVID-19 
outbreak 
worse,” 

obviously sounds a lot better than, 
“Jim Harbaugh is optimistic that 
football season can happen safely if 
players and coaches follow extensive 
safety protocols that will be in place 
if universities allow students back 
for in-person learning.” Maybe that 
better explains the issue than the 
last 700 words of this column.

Here’s the thing, though. If 

doctors and epidemiologists tell 
him it isn’t safe, Harbaugh won’t 
marshal 130 players and staff onto 
a plane to Seattle so Michigan can 
play Washington on Sept. 5. One 
source told The Daily that game is 
highly unlikely to happen, which 
comports with, well, basic logic. 
Though he won’t say it publicly, 
Harbaugh surely knows that, too.

While Twitter was ripping him to 

shreds, here’s what else Harbaugh 
said about the novel coronavirus 
and how it’s affecting his team:

“I’d say the biggest question 

I’m really getting from our players 
is how they can be a part of the 
solution. A lot of the feedback has 
been that their peers, other people 
in their age group, are somewhat 
or very cavalier about the virus. 
How it affects that age group. Their 
response has been they want to be 

ETHAN SEARS

Managing Sports Editor

ETHAN
SEARS

Another out-of-context Harbaugh

Read more at
 MichiganDaily.com

